Reps. Norcross, Pallone Renew Call for Department of Labor to Investigate Amazon Warehouses in New Jersey

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressmen Donald Norcross (NJ-01) and Frank Pallone (NJ-06) sent a letter to Douglas L. Parker, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), asking the agency to investigate workplace safety at Amazon’s warehouses in New Jersey.

“Considering the death of a worker at the EWR9 facility in Carteret, New Jersey, during the Prime Day sale rush, we write to… specifically request that OSHA open an investigation into New Jersey warehouses,” wrote the lawmakers.

The letter, “[We] ask OSHA to look into possible conduct by Amazon that is designed to hide injuries from OSHA.”

Previous reporting and an ongoing investigation into Amazon warehouse safety by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York suggest the company may be obscuring the true number of injuries at its facilities.

This is the second letter to OSHA sent from members of the New Jersey congressional delegation in the last three months, following reports of abnormally high rates of serious injury at Amazon warehouses in the state. The first letter asked for OSHA to respond to its request for an investigation by August 23, 2022.

Amazon is the second-largest private employer in New Jersey and nationwide, meaning its policies and work conditions affect hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.

Read the full letter here.